The worst one-day drop in stock prices ever. The biggest percentage decline in history. The most expensive bailout since the Great Depression. The drumbeat doesn’t stop. For investors, the bad news has become deafening—and debilitating. In a Condé Nast Portfolio poll, financial-sector executives detail just how bad things have been for their industry and for the economy as a whole. Read the poll at your own peril.

But don’t ignore the silver lining; while industry leaders are uniformly dour on the current state of affairs, they don’t believe all is lost when it comes to their own companies and jobs. Eventually, they say, the tide will turn. And that, in a way, is the point of an investing guide in the wake of one of the biggest financial debacles in history. Money moves on. Opportunities arise. We’ve found 10 people who have managed to win this year; they offer advice on how you can do the same in 2009. So take some solace in their stories—and allow yourself a sigh of relief that the end of this year is only weeks away.